Device For facilitating Grill Grate Cleaning

ABSTRACT

The invention claims a device for facilitating the effective cleaning of grill grates by taking the exact shape of the grill grate itself. This is possible doe to a large number of small diameter pins that move independently of each other. When pressed against the grill grate the pins m contact with the grate itself will be displaced upward and the pins in between the grates will move downward. This movement allows the device to take the exact shape of each individual grate. When the device takes the shape of the grate it can easily be locked in place allowing effective scraping of the grates. When finished scraping one particular size and shape grate the device can easily be unlocked and placed on a flat surface to even out the pins, then placed on another grate of a completely different shape and size, pressed down, have it take the exact shape, lock in place and effectively scrape this grate. This can be repeated over and over for most any shape or size grill grate.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of grill cleaning devices.The invention herein relates more particularly to a device that conformsand adapts to multiple grill grate sizes and shapes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Backyard grilling has become very common throughout the world andkeeping the grate clean is important. There are many grill gratecleaning devices available to the backyard griller and most of them do apretty good job. One common grid grate cleaning device is a wire brush.This device can be a health hazard if the small wires break loose fromthe device and get deposited on the grate itself. These small wires canget picked up and stuck on the food that is being grilled, completelyundetected. Because the wires are stuck on the food and undetected theyare easily ingested and can become a health hazard. There are manydocumented cases of ingestion and illness due to this.

This device that is the subject of this invention helps to eliminatethis problem by having larger, stiffer pins taking the exact shape ofthe grill and lock in place. The wire brush relies on the small diameterwires radically bending to take die shape of the grate. The individualwires become work hardened and brittle because of the back and forthmotion of cleaning. The wires become brittle and break loose gettingdeposited on the grill grate. Because they are small, they goundetected.

Since the invented device's pins are of a larger diameter than a wirebrash and do not bend during the scraping/cleaning process, it is notlikely that they will break off and go undetected.

Existing methods of scraping/cleaning grill grates using eitheradjustable or formable scrapers are:

Grill Rack Cleaning Device: that is laterally adjustable, using tools toloosen and tighten individual friction locks. The clips are apre-determined shape that must be installed individually. They willclean a particular grill grate shape, but will not take the exact shapeof a multitude of grill grates without the use of tools.

Adjustable Grill Scraper: that can be adjusted laterally with the use oftools to loosen and tighten individual friction locks for each grate.These are designed to clean grates that have different spacing however;there is no natural conformity to the grill grate for intimate cleaningof a variety of shapes and sixes of grill grate.

Heat Responsive Wood Scraper: that will take the shape of the grillgrate. This method requires “burning” the shape of the grill grate intothe end of the wood scraper by heating the grill to high heat andscraping the end of the paddle on the hot grill grates until the shapeis worn in. This scraper will take the shape of the grate but is onlygood for that particular grate.

The inventor is not aware of any prior grill scraper/cleaner that usessomething similar to the subject of this application.

There are multiple variations of the three approaches discussed above.Representative prior art is cited as Lann 708,611,7 (Cylindrical Clip),Hall 572,007,1 Rood 525,540,6 (Adjustable Grill Scraper), Thompson874,106,8 (Meat Responsive Wood Scraper).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary Device for Facilitating GrillGrate Cleaning in a neutral or starting position or for scraping a flatsurface.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the claim that the device can take theshape of the grill grate.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the detail associated with FIG. 1 and FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of die device in its entirety.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of device taking the shape of a round grillgrate.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the device taking the shape of a triangulargrill grate shape.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of the device taking the shape of a squaregrill grate.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the inside of die device that aids in theoperation

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention claims a device for effectively scraping grill gratesclean by easily taking the exact shape of each individual grate due tothe use of pins that move independently of each other and are thenlocked into place. The invention claims the device can withstand lateraland vertical loads applied to effectively clean burnt food from thegrill grate. The invention claims feat it can be used on most any grillgrate shape and size. The invention claims once the shape has beenformed it is easily locked in place without the use of tools. Theinvention claims the device can be locked and unlocked many times,without the use of tools, making it possible to be used on a multitudeof different grill grates of different sizes and shapes. The inventionclaims the device can also be used for scraping/cleaning flat topsurfaces.

In this embodiment, the device (1) (FIG. 1) enables the operator (2)(FIG. 1) holding the device to press the device down on the grate (3)(FIG. 1) in a natural fashion similar to measuring contours while thehandle (11) (FIG. 1) and jackscrew (5) (FIG. 1) has been turnedcounterclockwise allowing the pins (4) (FIG. 1) to move freely. Contactbetween the individual pins and the grate and non-contact of the pins inbetween the grates coupled with the individual movement of the pinsallows the device to mirror the shape of the grate (3) (FIG. 2). Thepins (4) (FIG. 2) are prevented from falling out of the device (1)(FIG. 1) while adjusting to the grate (3) (FIG. 2) by the resilientmaterial (14) (FIG. 8) and slip resistant material (15) (FIG. 8) beingcompressed together against the pins (4) (FIG. 8), no matter whatposition of the handle (11) (FIG. 1) and jackscrew (5) (FIG. 1) by wayof a predetermined setting. Locking the pins (4) (FIG. 3) in place byturning the handle (11) (FIG. 3) clockwise will hold the pins to theexact shape of the grate while lateral and vertical force is applied foreffective cleaning. The pins (4) (FIG. 2) are of a large enough diameterand stiff enough material to prevent bending and separating when lateraland vertical force is applied while cleaning grill grates or flat tops.The grill scraper (1) (FIG. 4) includes a dual purpose handle (11) (FIG.4). Turning the handle (11) (FIG. 4) clockwise forces the movable beam(7) (FIG. 4) against the pins (4) (FIG. 4) and the pins against astationary beam (8) (FIG. 4) and slip resistant material (15) (FIG. 8)locking the pins in place with friction. The handgrip (12) (FIG. 4) isfor comfort and better grip while turning the handle (11) (FIG. 4) tolock or unlock the pins (4) (FIG. 4). An eye/loop component (13) (FIG.4) is for hanging/storing the scraper while not in use. A jackscrew (5)(FIG. 3) is anchored into the handle (11) (FIG. 4) and threaded into andthrough a stationary beam (6) (FIG. 3), and contacts a movable beam (7)(FIG. 3). The stationary beam (8) (FIG. 3), threaded stationary beam (6)(FIG. 3) and movable beam (7) (FIG. 3) are held in place by end caps (9)(FIG. 3), and fasteners (10) (FIG. 3), FIGS. 5, 6 & 7 are illustrationsof the ability of the device to take the exact shape of various grillgrates.

Multiple additional features are envisioned for the device. The devicecan include one of many methods for attachments: a container forcleaning agent, light, vibrating mechanism, debris guard, magnet, airchannel, brush attachment, mesh attachment abrasive pad attachment.

This device could make grill and flat top scraping and cleaning saferand more effective for professional barbeque grillers and restaurantusers as well as backyard grillers.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device containing numerous movable pinspositioned to a conformal shape and locked in place for facilitating thescraping and/or cleaning of a multitude of different shapes and sizes ofcooking surfaces.
 2. The device of claim 1 such that the device conformsto the shape of the surface to be cleaned by being positioned inintimate contact with that surface.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein thedevice contains a mechanism to lock the shape in place.
 4. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the device can be unlocked and used to take differentshapes.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the device will take the shapeof the grate and allow sufficient scraping force to clean grill.
 6. Thedevice of claim 1 wherein the device can have a long handle for use withboth hands or a smaller handle for use with a single hand.
 7. The deviceof claim 1 wherein the device can have several rows of pins that areadjustable to conform to the shape of the surface to be cleaned.
 8. Thedevice of claim 1 wherein the device can have different material on eachside for applicable cleaning situations and surfaces.
 9. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the shape and size of the pins can be changed toaccommodate different shapes, sizes and contoured surfaces.
 10. Thedevice of claim 1 including a handle with a friction lock can be a smallhand held unit without a handle used for small hard to get to areas. 11.The device of claim 1 with an incorporated mechanism to facilitatestorage attachment.
 12. The device of claim 1 with an incorporatedlighting mechanism to facilitate operation in the absence of other lightsources.
 13. The device of claim 1 with a reservoir for the storage anddispensing of cleaning fluid.
 14. The device of claim 1 with a vibratingmechanism to facilitate the cleaning action.
 15. The device of claim 1with which there are no tools needed to unlock, adjust or lock theconformal shape in place.
 16. The device of claim 1 which uses thedownward force to be concentrated on the tips of individual pins toexert a concentrated force on each grill grate and each part of eachgrill grate to facilitate very effective scraping.
 17. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the downward force will be multiplied by having asmaller area of concentration due to the smaller area of distributionapplied by the ends of the pins in contact with the grill grate.
 18. Thedevice of claim 1 wherein the pins in contact will not bend underlateral load or separate to have the wide area of the pin sides doingthe scraping but the tips of the pins will do the actual scraping.
 19. Adevice containing a single row of movable pins positioned to a conformalshape and manually locked in place for facilitating the scraping and/orcleaning of a multitude of different shapes and sizes of cookingsurfaces.
 20. The device of claim 19 such that the device conforms tothe shape of the surface to be cleaned by being positioned in intimatecontact with that surface.
 21. The device of claim 19 wherein the devicecontains a mechanism to lock the shape in place.
 22. The device of claim19 wherein the device can be unlocked and used to take different shapes.23. The device of claim 19 wherein the device will take the shape of thegrate and allow sufficient scraping force to clean grill.
 24. The deviceof claim 19 wherein the device can have a long handle for use with bothhands or a smaller handle for use with a single hand.
 25. The device ofclaim 19 wherein the device can have different material on each side forapplicable cleaning situations and surfaces.
 26. The device of claim 19wherein the shape and she of the pins can be changed to accommodatedifferent shapes, sizes and contoured surfaces.
 27. The device of claim19 including a handle with a friction lock can be a small hand held unitwithout a handle used for small hard to get to areas.
 28. The device ofclaim 19 with an incorporated mechanism to facilitate storageattachment.
 29. The device of claim 19 with an incorporated lightingmechanism to facilitate operation in the absence of other light sources.30. The device of claim 19 with a reservoir for the storage anddispensing of cleaning fluid.
 31. The device of claim 19 with avibrating mechanism to facilitate the cleaning action.
 32. The device ofclaim 19 with which there are no tools needed to unlock, adjust or lockthe conformal shape in place.
 33. The device of claim 19 which uses thedownward force to be concentrated on the tips of individual pins toexert a concentrated force on each grill grate and each part of eachgrill grate to facilitate very effective scraping.
 34. The device ofclaim 19 wherein the down ward force will be multiplied by having asmaller area of concentration due to the smaller area of distributionapplied by the ends of the pins in contact with the grill grate.
 35. Thedevice of claim 19 wherein the pins in contact will not bend underlateral load or separate to have the wide area of the pin sides doingthe scraping but die tips of the pins will do the actual scraping.